Thoughts off the Glass

Why I am catholic…….adoration

It’s 5 am and the temperature is no more than 5 degrees.

I enter the code to open the door to the adoration chapel. It’s dark with one prayful person inside, glasses at the end of his nose with his bible opened in front of him. The monstrance is only a few feet away and you can feel the Lord’s presence immediately. I genuflect the best I can with my sometimes tempermental right knee, find my rosary and kneel at one of the kneelers which my knee appreciates.

Adoration (Latin) is to respect; reverence; strong admiration or devotion. The term comes from the Latin adōrātiō, meaning “to give homage or worship to someone or something.”

The definition of “adoration” is simple and straightforward. The more compelling question is why? Why adore, respect, revere or even devote your time to the Lord? I have always wondered why some people are called to the life of a religious (monk, priest, deacon, nun).

Maybe some things take time to understand and like a fine single malt scotch, with age, you understand and everything begins to go down smoother. My time spent in prayer was strictly for selfish reasons. I have done things that I am not proud of. Hurt people along the way. This is where I hope the aging process has smoothed these bumps in the road over. What I adored was certainly not God. I adored myself more than anything. I was only interested in what was pleasing to me and maybe sometimes how others may feel. What does Jesus tell us, “remove thy own log from your own eye first?”. And as time passes by, I am less limber, fatter and the realization that I need to get out of the way. I need to get out of the way of ego and let it go on by. Get out of the way of my wants and let them go on wanting. Let my worries worry by themselves.

So where am I going to. The adoration of the Lord is more than one hour of prayer and devotion. Adoration, respect and reverence of God is an ongoing feeling of the soul.